15 November, 2014

Catherine of Lyonesse is set in the invented
countries of Lyonesse and l’Aquitaine, which bear a distinct resemblance to
sixteenth-century England and France. All events, places and characters are
fictional.

Disclaimer:

I’m acquainted with the author, Rick Robinson, by email, and Rick often
comments here on my blog. I read a draft of Catherine
of Lyonesse before it was published, and was very pleased to see it in
print. Rick did ask me to review the book; however I had already decided to
review it and ordered a copy before he asked. I should also say that I have a
particular liking for the somewhat unusual genre of invented history (for a definition,
see earlier post),
which is set in an invented world but has none of the supernatural elements of
fantasy. My own Ingeld’s Daughter
is similar, although the setting is more medieval than Renaissance.

Now, on with the review.

Catherine
is the elder daughter of Prince Henry of Lyonesse, heir to the old and sickly
King Edmund. When her father is killed in a supposed hunting accident,
seven-year old Catherine and her three-year-old sister Anne are hurried into
exile in l’Aquitaine by their mother, a princess of the Aquitanian royal
family. After her mother’s death, Catherine is brought up in exile at the
Aquitanian court by Madame Corisande d’Abregon, ex-mistress of the King of
Aquitaine and now married to the chief minister, Antoine de Chirac. Catherine
is heiress to the throne of Lyonesse, which she should rightfully inherit when
her grandfather King Edmund dies. The King of Aquitaine recognises her as a
valuable political prize, but he is uncertain how best to make use of her. By
the age of fourteen, when the main story opens, Catherine is old enough to know
that she does not want to be used by anybody – she wants to reclaim her kingdom
and rule it in her own right. But in Lyonesse, ambitious nobles plot a
usurpation, and in Aquitaine she has enemies who would gladly see her dead,
either for Court factional politics or to replace her with her more pliant
sister Anne. In her support, Catherine has only her own intelligence, the
education in statecraft she has received from Corisande, and two bright and
beautiful young ladies-in-waiting. Can she even survive, let alone claim her
throne?

Catherine of Lyonesse is a rollicking
adventure yarn. Being set in an invented world, it is not constrained by real
events and the story is free to take any turn the author pleases. So, unlike
historical fiction, no reader can know in advance the outcome of Catherine’s
dramatic – and sometimes ill-advised – escapades. Catherine is a delightful central
character, warm, courageous and intelligent, but also impulsive and prone to
hasty judgements that do not always work out well. The two ladies-in-waiting,
brave and athletic Madeleine du Lac and voluptuous and cunning Solange de
Charleville, are as vivid as Catherine herself. The court of l’Aquitaine has a
believably poisonous atmosphere of in-fighting and back-stabbing, as rival
factions jostle for political power and the influential position of mistress to
the King. Long-standing military antagonism between Lyonesse and l’Aquitaine
periodically flares into open warfare. Not least when a young nobleman of
Lyonesse, William de Havilland, decides to put his experience as a mercenary
ship’s captain to use as a privateer, attacking Aquitanian targets and provoking
a backlash that puts Catherine in significant personal danger. The web of
dynastic and political tensions surrounding Catherine creates a convincing
sense of real peril.

As
well as the political side to Catherine’s story, she also has an adolescent
girl’s natural hopes for romantic love – though her position as heiress to a
throne complicates matters – and this provides material for an intertwining
sub-plot.

The
different countries, cultures and languages in the novel are cleverly portrayed
using variations in titles, personal and place names. In l’Aquitaine the
language is Gallic, represented by French phrases, French titles (Altesse,
instead of Highness), French personal names such as Catherine, Louis and
Guillaume, and French spellings of place names such as Kellouique and
Richebourg. In Lyonesse the language is Saxon, and the names become Kateryn or
Katrin, Lewis, William, Kelliwick and Richborough. In the Republic of Ravenna,
a mercantile and maritime city-state bearing a resemblance to Italian
city-states such as Venice, the names become Caterina and Guglielmo. Readers
familiar with sixteenth-century Europe will have great fun spotting parallels
between the fictional world and real European history – almost as much fun, I
suspect, as the author had in creating them. There were some that I only
noticed on a second reading, and I expect there are more that I haven’t yet
spotted. Catherine of Lyonesse is
much more interesting than an allegory, though. Catherine has some aspects reminiscent
of the young Elizabeth I and the young Mary Queen of Scots, but her actions,
situation and personality are entirely her own.**

Rattling
adventure yarn set in an invented world bearing a distinct resemblance to
Renaissance Europe, with a cracking plot and a most attractive heroine.

**In
a comment here once, Rick described Catherine as ‘a sort of improved Mary Queen
of Scots’, which I think is a very apt description.

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About Me

I'm a scientist with an interest in history, particularly the history of Britain in the 5th-10th centuries AD (i.e. between the departure of Rome and the Norman invasion).
I write scientific journal articles, for which I get paid, and historical and fantasy fiction, for which I don't. I'm a keen hillwalker, though I live in the flatlands of East Anglia.
I'm a devotee of BBC Radio 4, the network that justifies the license fee all by itself.
Carla Nayland is a pen name.